The Secret Service announced on Thursday that they have closed their investigation into the cocaine discovered at the White House early this month. They said that due to a lack of physical evidence, they are “unable” to “single out a person of concern”.
The Secret Service released a statement on Thursday after briefing Congress members on the issue. It said that the cocaine was discovered on July 2, “inside an electronic device and personal storage container used to temporarily store devices before entering the West Wing.”
The Secret Service has said has been investigating “how the item entered the White House,” and this includes a “methodical evaluation of security systems, protocols, and procedures.”
The Secret Service stated that “this review included a retrospective examination which spanned a number of days before the discovery of this substance, and developed an index for several hundred individuals who could have accessed the location where the substance was discovered.” The Secret Service said that investigators created “a list of known individuals for comparison with forensic evidence obtained from the FBI analysis of the packaging of the substance.”
The Secret Service received FBI lab results from the FBI on Wednesday. It said that the effort “didn’t develop latent fingerprints” and there was insufficient DNA for investigational comparisons.
The Secret Service stated that “therefore the Secret Service cannot compare the evidence against a known pool of individuals,” adding that the FBl evaluation of the substance had “also confirmed it to be cocaine.”
The Secret Service said that no video surveillance footage was found to provide investigators with any investigative leads, or other ways of identifying who might have dumped the substance found in this area. Without physical evidence, investigators will not be in a position to identify a person of concern from among the hundreds of people who passed through the vestibule where the cocaine was found.
The Secret Service said that the investigation was closed at this time due to a shortage of physical evidence.
The Secret Service informed members of Congress about the investigation on Thursday.
Before the Secret Service confirmed, a reliable source told us Secret Service officials planned to close the investigation on Friday without determining the owner of the cocaine. Source: Secret Service officials have said that they do not yet know who brought cocaine into the White House.
Rep. Tim Burchett, after being briefed by the Secret Service, confirmed to reporters that this investigation will be closed without naming any suspects. Burchett said that the Secret Service informed members of less than one gram of cocaine being found.
Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) said she didn’t necessarily believe that the cocaine belonged to a Biden family member, adding that “I won’t go down the rabbit hole.”
Mace stated, “It’s frustrating to never be able to find out what is going on when something bad happens around the White House or around the President, his family, or the Administration.”
Mace responded: “I do not believe so.” When asked whether Secret Service had drug-tested White House staffers, Mace said that he did not know.
Mace, a member of the House Oversight Committee was asked whether that panel would take over the Secret Service’s investigation.
Mace stated, “We are busy with other investigations.” “I don’t believe that this would be a part of that.”
Conflicting reports had been made about the location of the cocaine. Initially, the White House Library was said to be the location of the cocaine. Later, Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters it was in an area of the West Wing that is “heavily used”. It was then reported that the cocaine was found near the West Executive Entrance, which is a safer location than originally thought.
The White House stated that the incident happened while President Biden, and his family, were on their Camp David getaway.
Biden’s Republican critics believe that the administration does not care about finding out the real identity of the person.
